What is mediation, and how does it work in farm succession?

Gregory Dale of MediatingWorks, is a psychologist, a counsellor, a farmer, and a trained mediator. His unique combination of skills make him well placed to facilitate rural farming families' succession planning. 

Before we get started, you might have a few questions. 

What is mediation? 

Mediation is a facilitated negotiation between two or more parties with the mediator managing the negotiation process. The mediator uses a combination of individual sessions initially and later joint sessions to facilitate discussion between the parties in order to arrive at a resolution. The mediator is a process manager and directs the parties to explore several steps, to get to (hopefully!) a desired outcome for all parties.

In a farm succession scenario, mediation includes a pre-mediation session with each person involved, where the individual is taken through the mediation process, including looking at their interests, and relationships with others in the group. Each individual is assisted to develop an opening statement that expresses their position, interests and expectations. A group mediation session is then facilitated, which leads to a written outcome report (documenting the process, and the agreed next steps). Several weeks after the group session, there is a post-mediation session where the commitments in the report are reviewed and reflected on. 

Why use mediation?

Mediation is helpful to resolve a conflict, generate creative solutions to problems and allow parties to maintain a good working relationship. Mediation is useful as an early intervention method where conflict might be developing, to bring a resolution before the conflict becomes entrenched and deadlocked.

Sometimes farming families might just need a facilitated meeting, which can take place over one or a few sessions. Other times, there might be more complicated issues that need to be resolved before the farm succession journey can begin, or continue. These blockages can include different expectations or interests, or challenging relationships. 

Keen to know more about what mediation is, and how it can be used to come up with a farm succession plan for your family? Book in your free initial 20 minute consultation with Gregory Dale from MediatingWorks here.